Dental offices are made up of a lot of different team members. We dove into some of the roles in a couple previous episodes, but today we are talking all things dental hygienist. What do dental hygienists do and how do they operate within a dental practice? Let’s dive in.
SIDE NOTED: We are not only rounding off this segment of “who’s who in the dental office”, but we are also rounding off season 1! We have enjoyed having you all on this journey and can’t wait to see you in season 2! We will still be active on all our socials so drop us a line. Don’t be a stranger!
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As always, feel free to reach out through our instagram @YourDailyDoseOfDental or through our website http://www.DoseOfDental.com. We would love to hear from you and hope your questions can be featured on our show!
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Website: https://doseofdental.com/
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Transcript:
Well, well, welcome back to another episode. I’m Dr. Mike. – And I’m Dr. Rusty. – And we’re two general dentists practicing in Portland, Oregon. – Welcome back to our podcast, DM a dentist. – In today’s episode, we’re talking about our final team member in the who’s who in the dental office. This is part three, and we’re talking about the dental hygienist. – The hygienist? You mean the cornerstone of the dental office? – You mean the boss? – Yeah, basically the boss. – They’re kind of in charge, it seems like. – The boss, sometimes, you know. – My boss, day to day. – We love our hygienists, but you know. – Yeah, but they run the place. – They do. – Yeah, in a lot of ways, they do keep the office running. And keep a lot of things. – Absolutely. – Systems running, recall patients coming through. I mean, hygienist is important. – I mean, does your hygienist or does your hygienist? Does your patients say, “Hey, I wanna see you” or they wanna see the hygienist? – Oh, for sure. They request a hygienist. They build a relationship with them. You know, the hygienist is like the bread and butter of the practice. It’s bringing people through to get exams. And I mean, they’re coming back to see the hygienist though. They build a relationship with them. They’re not coming to see me. – No, they wanna see Vonda, or Sam, or Angela. Any of you all that are amazing. – Yeah. – But when they’re in their chair, they’re happy. They’re getting their teeth clean, things are good. When they’re in my chair, it’s ’cause they need something more. So typically, patients are just happier, I think, when they’re coming for a hygiene visit. ‘Cause they’re– – Yeah, it’s like a real spa day. – Yeah, it’s basically– – Yeah, it’s a treatment. Yeah. – Something crazy. – But what is a role of a hygienist? I mean, you know, we talked a little bit about some of the roles. What are they called? – Dental nurses. – Dental nurse. – Yeah, so are dental nurses? – As you all know, they’re not dental nurses. – Yeah, if you listened to our early episodes, no one in the dental office is called a nurse. So y’all better know that if not go back in with then I think it was the assistant– – Listen to a different one. – Yeah. – These are what we’re talking today about dental hygienist, not dental nurses. So yeah, what are they? – The hygienists, they’re really involved. So they’re providers of the office too, right? They’re licensed in a similar way to the dentist or license. By the state, they have to go...
